Vehicles powered by an engine are well known in the art. In some cases, the engine may be coupled with an electric generator. The electric generator may provide power to various electrical equipment of the vehicle. The engine may also provide power directly to one or more components of the vehicle.
The engine is provided with an intake air for combustion with a fuel. The engine generates an exhaust as a byproduct of combustion. In some engines, the exhaust may provide power to one or more turbochargers in order to compress the intake air in one or more stages before supplying the intake air to the engine. Due to compression, an intercooler and an aftercooler may be provided to cool the intake air after each stage of compression.
The exhaust may be discharged after passing through the one or more turbochargers. Consequently, a heat associated with the exhaust may be wasted. Further, heat extracted from the intake air in the intercooler and the aftercooler may also be wasted. Heat may also be lost through various other components of the vehicles, for example, but not limited to, a dynamic brake grid, a radiator etc. Therefore, an efficiency of the vehicles may get reduced.
U.S. Published Application Number 2005268955 discloses a locomotive diesel engine waste heat recovery system for converting waste heat of engine combustion into useful work. A thermoelectric module is connected to the hot engine exhaust to provide a high temperature heat source, and the engine coolant system is also connected to the thermoelectric module to provide a low temperature heat source. The difference in temperature of the heat sources powers the thermoelectric module to convert waste heat of the engine into electricity to power selected devices of the locomotive.